Month: September 2010

I’m deeply saddened to learn about the death of Fr. Thomas Dubay, SM. I have been a fan of his books and TV series for a long time. There was no better teacher on contemplative prayer. While so many modern “teachers” were teaching what they they called contemplative prayer, but what was really mixed with “New Age” and “Eastern” techniques like “Centering Prayer”, he was teaching deep, deep prayer truly faithful to St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, the masters of Christian contemplation. You don’t “empty your mind” with mantras and all that nonsense, you allow God to fill you with Himself. You don’t have control, God does. You don’t put yourself into an altered state of consciousness, you allow God to lead you to places unknown. Which only comes after a long, faithful prayer life. And a life of truly living His will.

I know Fr. Dubay is looking down at us and praying for us that we take the time to learn to truly pray. Here are some resources I would suggest:

Great for beginners but helpful to everyone.

A deep book but one that will truly teach you about St. Teresa of Avila & St. John of the Cross and the stages of prayer that you should aspire to. It is a kind of road map to show you were you are and what to expect on your prayer journey to God. You can’t progress well if you don’t know where you are going and how to get there. You can use this as a companion book when reading the actual works of these great saints. This is a masterpiece for the spiritual life.

This fantastic book shows you what to look for in a spiritual director and what to expect in spiritual direction. Since it is so hard to find a good director, this book is excellent in guiding you in the spiritual life. Written in a dialog format it is not hard to understand and really challenges you do better in your walk with Christ.

If you go to EWTN’s Audio Library and type in “Thomas Dubay” in the series search box, you’ll find 6 different TV series he did for the network. Choose one that interests you. I would suggest the series on Contemplation. Then either listen on your computer, or if you have an iPod, or other mp3 player, save them on your computer and transfer them to your player. These shows go really in depth and if you want to learn what Contemplation is all about this will give you the nitty-gritty.

Take this holy man’s death as an invitation to read or listen to his works and learn how to advance in your walk with God. Now that he is with Him, I’m sure that if we say a quick prayer to ask Fr. Dubay to pray for us we will advance even further. Thank you Fr. Dubay for all your work.

Today is Sunday and this morning while getting ready to go to Mass my 7 year old son had an amazing discovery. ALL of his shoes, every one of them, were MISSING! His sandals, his school shoes, his sneakers, every pair disappeared. “Really?“ I said. So, of course, we looked for them and they were nowhere to be found. “I can’t go to Mass if I can’t find my shoes!” he said. Yeah….right.

Now, I was not born yesterday, maybe the day before, but not yesterday. I do have experience in these matters, having reared his infinitely more sneaky and Mass avoiding brother. “Well,” I say, “then you are going to have to go barefoot.” I did mean this – he would have gone barefoot. “WAIT!” he says, “let me check one more place….”

If you don’t have Facebook, you are missing something – and that is my posts. Facebook is a fantastic place to connect with friends and family, but it also is a great place for sharing news and info with others. The LiveCatholic Facebook page is chock full of great Catholic info, plus you’ll find out every time I post something new for you here. I know you can’t wait.

Now, I post great Catholic articles that I find right on the Facebook page as soon as I read it, but for you people who don’t care to partake in Facebook (and I understand – my husband is one of them) I thought I would share the best with you. So today is the first of what hopefully will become a continuing series of posts. I try to post articles that are informative, maybe uplifting or helpful, and I try to not choose articles that are overly political or a downer because, heaven knows, there is enough of that stuff out there to make you want to take a quick trip off a cliff. So, with not a moment to lose, here is my first crop of The Most Interesting Articles This Week (can you hear the echo?) I really did want to make that title spin, with maybe little silver sparks coming off of it, but purple was the best I could do. It is most vomitorious, don’t you think. Don’t worry, I’ll control myself better next time.

1)A Brand-New Medieval Monastery…in Wyoming?An order of Carmelite Monks in Wyoming is planning on building a beautiful new monastery in the Rocky Mountains. This place will be fantastic and built to last a thousand years. I for one am excited for them. This will truly be something special and a great reason to buy Mystic Monk Coffee to help support the monks. Here’s their website about the New Mount Carmel.

5) Pray to Edith Stein. It couldn’t hoit! Have you ever prayed a Novena? It is nine days of praying your chosen prayer. Nine days in imitation of the time that the Apostles spent praying before Pentecost. Here is one woman’s experience with a novena to St. Edith Stein (St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross) for employment.

Have you ever wondered where our artistic ability comes from? Where anyone’s ability comes from? Where does creating art come from? I was contemplating this lately – about the beautiful soaring of the soul that is art. Expressing ourselves from the depths of our being. Seeing the world in unique ways. Transforming our life, and loves, and beauty, and passions into beautiful swathes of color, and form, and sound. How could we not have this ability when our Father can do this?

and this…

and this…

They are like the most beautiful paintings hanging in the most auspicious art gallery. Only they are living and evolving. How wonderful our God is to have created untold numbers of awe inspiring pieces of art just waiting to be discovered. Created by His all powerful, infinite hand. A true artist at work.